I was walking across the bus park at Skagit Transit, heading for my assigned vehicle to perform my AM pre-trip prior to making my morning run from Mount Vernon to Everett, Washington. For some unknown reason, I happened to look upward. There I saw an object dimnly silhoutted against the night sky, moving in a straight line, south to north, in a steady and totally silent manner. The body of this object seemed to be black, or some color slightly darker than the night sky behind it. Its shape, as best as I could tell, looked something like a bat-wing, except the pointed parts were on the leading edge. On the underside of this object there were two equal-sized, circular openings, which seemed to be filled with a swirling, phorphorescent vaporous substance of some sort. It looked to be both vaporous and energized in some manner. It was not like anything I have seen before. These were definitely not lights; not in the sense that we think of lights. The object had no other lights or energy sources which I could see. These two "wells" took up about half the area of each side of the object.

There was absolutelyl no sound associated with this sighting; not even the "woosh" of the air being disturbed by its passage. It was totally silent. The object crossed directly above me, headed on a general south-north heading, and then disappeared into the pre-dawn darkness. The total time I observed was probably between 3 and 5 seconds. Long enough to get a good look and discount any possibility of swamp gas, weather balloons or an early-morning stars or satellites.

I spent over 20 years in the Army; almost three years in combat. I have observed a wide assortment of aircraft in a wide assortment of applications, under a wide range of circumstances and conditions. I have extensive exposure to many types of military aircraft, including, AH1, UH1, CH47, OH1, C113, C123, C130, C141 and C5A types. I have observed night-time air strikes and close air support operations both day and night, and in all kinds of weather. I have flown in and am familiar with CH47, UH1, C113, C123, C130, C141 and C5A aircraft. While assigned to Fort Lewis, WA, I lived in military housing directly under the approach paths for aircraft incoming to Grey Army Airfild for over eight years. My point being, this observation was well outside the range of my experience and significantly enough to warrant my making this report.

What could this have been? Why was it here? What was its mission? Where was it going (and where did it come from)? And, most weirdly of all, why did it allow me to see it??